The End is Near: Robots Caught Kissing!

What happens when you get two robots alone together in the same room without adult supervision? Well, they may kiss awkwardly, that's what! Developed by the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Janet and Thomas are being hailed as the first kissing humanoid robots. The two shared their first kiss during a rehearsal for a robotic performance of Phantom of the Opera, and then smooched it up on stage in front of a packed house of 400 people under the guidance of director Chyi-Yeu Lin, a mechanical engineering professor.

According to the blog spectrumieee.org, Lin's team "spent three years developing the autonomous robots hand-eye coordination, intrinsic self-balancing mechanisms, and other technologies. He says that most of the movements during a scene are programmed into the robot ahead of time." Read more about them over here.

Check out both videos (the rehearsal and the performance) after the jump.